College Sports Blog

Longhorns safety Kenny Vaccaro excited to run loose

Kenny Vaccaro flew through the air, and defensive coordinator Manny Diaz couldn’t help but cringe.

“When he jumped over that guy in the bowl game, I thought that might have been it,” Diaz said back in March. “I was like, ‘That was great.’ Then I was like, ‘Oh man.’”

Diaz was referring to Vaccaro’s hurdle of California running back Isi Sofele — and subsequent sack of quarterback Zach Maynard — in the Holiday Bowl. Vaccaro was all over the field in the game, finishing with five tackles, two tackles for loss, that superman sack and two more pressures. Had Vaccaro wanted to, he could have declared for the NFL Draft afterwards, where he likely would have been chosen within the first couple of rounds.

Of course, Vaccaro made it very clear in his postgame media session he’d return for his senior season, citing his desire to win the Thorpe Award and “go to South Beach,” where this year’s BCS Championship will be played.

Fast forward a few months, where Vaccaro sat on a stool in the 9th floor of Texas’ Moncrief Athletic Complez for Texas’ first day of fall camp, telling reporters the defining play of his junior season was only a taste of what’s to come.

“The sack at the bowl game was my moment, that’s what I’m going to bring every play this coming year,” Vaccaro said. “Coach Diaz talked to me and said I was being a robot. He told me to roam free. I said OK. I can be a lot more relentless.”

“I want to bring leadership each day. I want to mold this defense and put the cream on the top. I want to be the backbone.”